GOP ‘Autopsy’: Too Old, Too White

Washington – The beleaguered Republican Party put into writing Monday what many of its top strategists and leaders have been saying since last year’s election losses: The GOP is too old, too white, and too insular to win national contests.

In a months-in-the-making report – which tops out at 100 pages and includes hundreds of recommended fixes – the Republican National Committee acknowledges its messaging problems, identifies structural setbacks to the primary calendar and spells out how to target specific demographic groups that voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in 2012.

“Public perception of the Party is at record lows,” the report states. “Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the Party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country. When someone rolls their eyes at us, they are not likely to open their ears to us.”

The report was initiated by the RNC soon after last November’s vote, which saw Republicans lose the presidency as well as seats in the U.S. House. Mitt Romney, the party’s White House hopeful, lost among every demographic bloc except white men, a fact that helped spur collective soul searching among the party’s leaders.